My humble experience in this field is, that if there is lots of FUD around a project, then there is a reason for it. So do I say to panic and believe any FUD? No, but I have been with other projects (like SUB) and every criticism was rejected as "Don´t listen to this stupid FUD" and I chimed in until I saw myself, that there was a reason for it and the reality was even worse than all these "FUDsters" wanted to make us believe. I learned, that I should have listened to these objections, because most of the times, FUD is not spread out of the malicious intent of competitors but simply is what it is: a clear warning to look deeper.
That being said, I see that your are doing your research and looking at the pros and cons - which is a good thing - but for me, the signs that there is something going horribly wrong with IOTA are also obvious. Besides all the facts (and my own bad experience with nothing really working - wallet, withdrawals etc), my gut always gives me a warning when I hear about IOTA and I share this with people, so that they can be cautious. But hey - it´s just my intuition and I hope for you, that I´m wrong. :)